[104] XXIX. For the sake of giving confidence--_Fidei causâ._ "In order that Jugurtha might have confidence in Bestia, Sextius the quaestor was sent as a sort of hostage into one of Jugurtha's towns." _Cortius._ [105] As if by an evident majority of voices--_Quasi per saturam exquisitis sententiis._ "The opinions being taken in a confused manner," or, as we say, _in the lump_. The sense manifestly is, that there was (or was said to be) such a preponderating majority in Jugurtha's favor, that it was not necessary to ask the opinion of each individual in order. _Satura_, which some think to be always an adjective, with _lanx_ understood, though _lanx_, according to Scheller, is never found joined with it in ancient authors, was _a plate filled with various kinds of fruit, such as was annually offered to the gods._ "Lanx plena diversis frugibus in templum Cereris infertur, quae satura nomine appellatur," Acron. ad Hor. Sat., i. 1, _init_. "Lanx. referta variis multisque primitiis, sacris Cereris inferebatur," Diomed., iii. p. 483."Satura, cibi genus ex variis rebus conditum," Festus _sub voce_. See Casaubon. de Rom. Satirâ, ii. 4; Kritzius ad h. l., and Scheller's Lex. v., _Satur._ In the Pref. to Justinian's Pandects, that work is called _opus sparsim et quasi per saturam collectum, utíle cum inutilibus mixtim._ [106] To preside at the election of magistrates--_Ad magistratus rogandos._ The presiding magistrate had _to ask_ the consent of the people, saying _Velitis, jubeatis--rogo Quirites._ [107] XXX. To give in full--_Perscribere._ "To write at length." The reader might suppose, at first, that Sallust transcribed this speech from some publication; but in that case, as Burnouf observes, he would rather have said _ascribere._ Besides, the following _hujuscemodi_ shows that Sallust did not profess to give the exact words of Memmius. And the speech is throughout marked with Sallustian phraseology. "The commencement of it, there is little doubt, is imitated from Cato, of whose speech _De Lusitanis_ the following fragment is extant in Aul. Gell. xiii. 24: _Multa me dehortata sunt huc prodere, anni, aetas, vox vires, senectus._" Kritzius. [108] XXXI. During the last fifteen years--_His annis quindecim._ "It was at this time, A.U.C. 641, twenty-two years since the death of Tiberius Gracchus, and ten since that of Caius; Sallust, or Memmius, not to appear to make too nice a computation, takes a mean." _Burnouf._ The manuscripts, however, vary; some read _fifteen_, and others _twelve_. Cortius conjectured _twenty_, as a rounder number, which Kritzius and Dietsch have inserted in their texts. _Twenty_ is also found in the Editio Victoriana, Florence, 1576. [109] Your defenders have perished--_Perierint vestri defensores._ Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, and their adherents. [110] Liberty of speech--_Libertatem._ Liberty of speech is evidently intended.